Tommys clinic for supervillains

Chapter 24

"So? What do you think?"

Tommy turned the mask over in his hands, feeling the weight of it, wondering how heavy it would be once it was on his face. The mask itself was stylized to look like one of those KN95 face masks, with the main difference being that instead of being made of a soft, white fiber, this mask was made of a thin metal that was painted to be bright cherry red. There were black straps like there would be on a medical face mask too, but besides the two that he would expect to loop around his ears, there were two more straps as well, which seemed designed to buckle behind his head.

When Tommy looked up from the mask in his hands, he saw Phil giving him a worried smile.

"I thought that it would be fitting to make it, uh, look like one of those medical masks doctors wear. Since you're a healer and all," Phil continued, laughing nervously. "But if you don't like it, that's fine. We can design it however you want. I just thought it'd be a fun surpris- oof!"

Phil grunted as Tommy threw himself at the man. He wrapped his arms around Phil's back, burying his face in his shoulder and hugging him close. Despite being taken by surprise, Phil immediately hugged him back, and Tommy felt dark wings circle around him, as if they were shielding him from the rest of the world.

"It's great," Tommy told him, his voice muffled by Phil's shirt. "Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it," Phil said, obvious relief flooding his tone.

He was obviously expecting Tommy to let go after that. Tommy didn't.

"Tommy, are you okay?" Phil asked softly, his wings curling in closer around them. When Tommy didn't say anything, Phil asked another question. "Are you worried about tonight?"

Tommy didn't lift his head from Phil's shoulder as he nodded.

"Oh, you shouldn't be," Phil reassured him, tightening the hug. "It's gonna be okay. I promise."

"You don't know that," Tommy argued, still refusing to lift his face from Phil's shoulder. "A lot of shit could go wrong."

"I get why you're worried, but I'm not new to this game," Phil explained, lightly scratching at Tommy's scalp with one of his talons. "I'm still working out the fine details, but I have a plan, I swear. And it's going to work."

Although the anxiety buzzing in his chest didn't disappear, it was eased a bit knowing that Phil had a plan. Phil always seemed to know what to do, and never got flustered when things went wrong. Tommy trusted Phil. Trusted that this would work, just like he said.

"Okay," Tommy whispered, lifting his head up.

Phil smiled when he met Tommy's eyes again. "Trust me, Tommy. I'm not losing anyone in my family tonight, got it?"

"I believe you," Tommy told him, nodding once. "We're not gonna lose anyone in our family."

His heart was pounding in his chest when he said the words our family. Of course he knew this was his family, but it was still strange to say out loud.

Phil seemed to notice Tommy's nervousness, because his smile turned teasing. "Do you see me as a father figure, Tommy?" He joked, mimicking the time Tommy had asked Phil if he saw Tommy as a son figure.

Tommy snorted as he pulled away from the hug, and Phil pulled his wings back so they were no longer encircling him. "Maybe a little bit," he grumbled, pretending to pout even though he was actually struggling to fight his own smile now.

There was a warm hand on his shoulder, and Tommy looked up to see absolutely beaming at him. "Well, that's pretty good, because I've already started telling people I have three sons instead of two and it'd be kinda awkward if I had to backtrack on that."